The college search for athletes has grown complicated and increasingly competitive, especially during the past 10 years. There are countless components that require attention in developing and executing a successful plan of action, along with several “key players” who make-up the team that “run the offense.”

The synergy between social media and college recruiting continues to grow in popularity and is evolving into the primary tool of communication between prospects and college coaches. Student-athletes can offer coaches with instantaneous updates about college recruitment, and if used prudently, these high tech platforms can help streamline evaluations significantly and help college coaches recruit better.

We've passed the mid-point of the season and we're approaching the final stretch. With March we see a mad dash to secure coveted Regional Seeds and qualifying spots. The National Rankings have now switched to the Regional Qualifying Score or RQS. The RQS is computed by taking a team's top three away meet scores and assembling the next highest three scores (home or away). The high is discarded and the results are averaged. The Top 36 teams qualify to the Regionals, and the Top 18 are seeded and distributed among the six Regional sites (more on this later).

I meet with club gymnasts and parents every week. After getting to know their backgrounds, skill level and goals, I ask them a question. “Can you define a scholarship?” What I have found is that most parents and gymnast have a basic idea of what a scholarship contains, but they do not know the details.

We're about to start the 2016 season, and we're here once again to release our ranking of the Top Recruiting Classes. We wait until the last possible moment to release this ranking, as the final picture never seems clear until January 1st. Once again, this season, we're seeing some of the impacts of the acceleration in early recruiting. In some cases, the gymnasts who originally committed at age 16 or younger did not end up matriculating at their original college choice. And, with scholarships opening up due to transfers or retirement, we're seeing an increase in late recruiting, early college…

Many of my clients have asked me what they should do when they are injured and did not get to complete or start their season. Of course, injuries are never part of your plan, but you must remember injuries are a part of sports. College coaches deal with injuries all the time and you should not let this deter you from continuing your college search.